How Will The Giants Replace Lorenzo Carter?

The Giants will be without third-year edge rusher Lorenzo Carter for the rest of the season and will need to look to other parts of the roster to replicate his production.

Carter, who suffered a season-ending Achilles injury on Sunday against the Cowboys, was a defensive anchor for the Giants on the edge through the first four games. According to Pro Football Focus, Carter played 85.7% of defensive snaps, racking up 15 tackles, one sack, ten stops, and eight quarterback pressures.

Carter was on pace for a career season, and his absence was felt for the Giants defense after he came out of the Dallas game, as the Cowboys were able to rack up 126 rushing yards, the most given up by the Giants' defense all season.

Carter's absence won't be made much easier by the fact that Oshane Ximines, the Giants' other homegrown starter on the edge, is on IR himself with a shoulder issue.

Head coach Joe Judge's next-man-up mentality will be tested in the coming weeks as the defense looks to find the depth to replace one of its most important players.

"We're going to miss having a guy like that out there for a lot of different reasons," Judge said. "As with any move, everyone else is going to have to play better around him to make sure we elevate our play as a team."

The Giants will have a mix of veterans and rookie to work into the rotation in place of Carter and Ximines, with Markus Golden and Kyler Fackrell likely leading the way.

Fackrell is on pace to possibly put up career numbers himself in 2020, as he currently is tied for the team lead in sacks with two and returned an interception for a touchdown against the Cowboys on Sunday.

"[Fackrell] was in the right spot at the right time because he followed his alignment and his drop assignment on that play where he made the interception," Judge said. "In terms of Kyler, regardless of who else is at the game, we need him to do his job as well as possible for us to have success."

Meanwhile, Golden, the Giants' leader in sacks and a 16-game starter in 2019, got in the sack column for the first time this season on Sunday, sharing a sack with rookie cornerback Darnay Holmes.

Golden also already gas a degree of chemistry and respect with the rest of the defense from the prominent role he served last year.

"Markus is a great guy," said defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson. "He always has his head on the right way and he's ready to work each and every day and just the energy he brings out there when he comes out there, it's going to be super effective for us on defense."

Unfortunately for the Giants, playing Golden and Fackrell won't come with the added benefit of developing their core and building long-term chemistry in the front seven, as they are both on one-year contracts.

The added financial motivation certainly isn't bad for Golden and Fackrell's production for the rest of the year. Still, in an 0-5 season, giving those reps to players that might not even be around next year is less-than-ideal for Judge's longterm vision of the team.

If the Giants' season continues to spiral downwards and the coaching staff prefers to build toward the future in the second half of the year, the Giants could give some playing time to their late-round rookies on the edge.

Sixth-round pick Cam Brown out of Penn State and seventh-rounder Carter Coughlin out of Minnesota have been in the mix for the Giants' special teams this year.

Neither Coughlin nor Brown was considered top-tier pass-rushing prospects coming out of their respective schools this year. However, they are thought to have the work ethic and football IQ to be effective athletes on the field still and given some NFL snaps, they could develop into reliable depth on the edge for the Giants' defense.

Brown possesses elite length and burst. While he lacks the ideal size and play strength at the edge rusher position, his toughness is unquestionable, according to Penn State defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Brent Pry.

Playing time against NFL offenses could give Brown the chance to channel that toughness and build a forbearance for NFL competition, which he won't back down from even if he's at a size disadvantage.

Meanwhile, Coughlin brings favorable quickness and the versatility to carry out various tasks from the edge position, according to Minnesota linebackers coach Joe Rossi, which is ideal for the system that defensive coordinator Patrick Graham runs.

Like Brown, Coughlin also lacks elite NFL strength to be a dominant pass rusher. Still, his fluid movements and technique as a linebacker could make him a useful utility player, given the defensive opportunities.

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